Archive for Jan 28, 2007

Oh to have the sort of friends Steve Paine does. My inbox fills up with "funny" photos of dogs doing silly things, or round-robin messages of good will, whereas he gets pictures of prototype Tablet PCs. Admittedly the latest is conspicuous for the absence of accompanying information, but if pictures speak a thousand words then I don't have to write any more in the post anyway.

Judging by the look of the stylus I'm thinking passive digitiser, although others have pointed out what looks like a trackpoint on the lower right-hand side of the screen. Anyone know anything more?

The ModBook tablet running OS X on Apple hardware caught the imagination of quite a few people, who obviously thought they may as well have a stop-gap until Apple themselves decide to pull their finger out and release an official one, and now we have a video courtesy of Macworld's Jonathan Seff to further tease us.

Taking us on a tour of the ports, slots and nooks of the machine, Jonathan then goes on to show how the ModBook handles pen-input via Apple's InkWell. Considering this has all been done without the might of the Apple development team, I'm all the more eager to see just what an official Mac-tablet could be capable of.

It sounds a little like a cut scene from Brokeback Mountain, but the Digital Cowboy is in fact a webcam. Now before you pelt me with rotten fruit and shout "why is a webcam newsworthy, you stupid goose?!" in my face, let me draw your violent attention to the 7x optical zoom strapped to the front of it.

That's right, this is the ideal webcam for those people who a) like to look really closely at things far away, b) have small things they want to make look bigger when in video-conversations, or c) are allergic to WiFi and as such can't sit close to their computer, but who want to video-converse anyway.

It's a mere 1.3-megapixels, mind, so we're not looking at something that will replace any high-quality SLR lenses you might have to hand, but for $81 what can you expect?

Motorola has got some stick in the past for bringing out innumerable versions of their product line in different colours, milking the appeal rather than spending the time making a new handset (possibly one with a UI that doesn't cause reviewers to projectile vomit into the faces of children). Well, Sharp appears to be going out of its way to avoid that kind of criticism, as its 812SH handset for Japanese operator Softbank is being launched in twenty different hues simultaneously.

Scourge of the indecisive, the Pantone 812SH (seemingly named after the famous colour company) comes complete with a 2-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch 260k colour LCD screen and 0.8-inch OLED external screen and a microSD slot. It's a 3G model and, since we're talking Japan, also supports the FeliCa wireless payment system with face recognition security.

Looks like the first Nokia N95 review units are hitting the desks of the gadget-faithful. Darla Mack found hers to be a surprisingly effective way of tempering flu-symptoms, while Steve Garfield was well enough in comparison to shoot a video of the unboxing. Not much beyond some teasing photos so far, so I guess we'll have to wait a few days before finding out if the N95 is really good enough to push dreams of the iPhone out of peoples' heads.

More photos after the cut. I'm really looking forward to seeing just how integrated the GPS is with the rest of the phone; Nokia have been doing some great research into augmented reality and geo-tagging, and I'd like to think that at least a little of that might've slipped into the N95's svelte body.

Readers of my personal blog will know the stress I've had recently around moving house and trying to take my ADSL broadband connection with me. To cut a tedious story short, despite claims to the contrary I was without internet access for a little over a fortnight; now that might not sound like much, but to a dedicated net-addict like myself it put a serious dent in my day to day life.

Since my phone line was also waiting to be connected, that meant dial-up was a non-starter, and so as the withdrawal symptoms began to get worse (shaking hands, excess perspiration, a tendency to shout out phrases like "purge the cache!" and "dot com!") I looked around desperately for a way to sate my need for the interweb. And then my twitching eye fell onto the Samsung SGH-Z560.

T-Mobile UK had sent me this unassuming clamshell a week or so back, it being one of the first models to support HSDPA on their network. Unfortunately its arrival had coincided with that of a Treo 750v, and the smartphone had gobbled up most of my attention (you can follow my path to push-email redemption in my Treo 750v review).

Where there's a launch announcement then a price can't be far behind, and T-Mobile certainly haven't wasted much time after spilling the proverbial beans that they're exclusively carrying the HTC Athena (or the T-Mobile Ameo as it will now be known). In return for two years love and devotion (aka your standard 24-month cellphone contract) they'll give you the Ameo for a mere €500 if you're in Germany.

The UK price is yet to be set, but assuming at least some degree of parity you're looking at £330. T-Mobile US is yet to say anything regarding a release on that side of the Atlantic, but $650 is a whole lot less than the $1,000+ people were threatening it'd cost.

These days it seems like you have chargers for just about everything, your mp3 player, your phone, PDA, and plenty of other devices that you have to keep track of. Herman Miller Inc. is working to eliminate that hassle. They have designed a desk with a system called eCoupled from Fulton Innovation that can charge almost any portable device just by setting them on the desk.

The eCoupled system works by transferring power via a magnetic field. Therefor, once a device comes in contact with the field, it can begin charging. I know that it would be much easier for me to just set my phone on my desk, or depending on the size of the magnetic field, leave it in my holster and have it charge. There is currently no word on pricing or availability.

Customers of Rogers Wireless have just been given some very good news. The Canadian wireless provider has just confirmed that they will be the sole carrier of the iPhone in the country. This no doubt will raise the question “are they going to offer free service like ATT/Cingular is rumored to be considering?” We'll be sure to keep you up to date on the details as they arise.

With Rogers being the second exclusive carrier of the iPhone, it looks as though Apple may have found it's new moneymaker. Surely these companies have offered significant amounts of money to secure the title of 'exclusive provider.' Whatever the case may be, we do know that there are going to be a lot of happy Rogers Wireless customers today.

Apple already has some of the thinnest laptops around, with the Macbook measuring and 1.08” and the Macbook Pro and an even inch, but Apple R&D seems to think they can do better. Until now, the biggest obstacle has been the optical drive. According to two recent patent applications from Apple, they are developing a method for installing the disk drive on the underside of the notebooks.

I'll admit, I'm still a bit skeptical. But with the success Apple has had with recent products, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. First, I have come to realize that I don't use the optical drive on my laptop very often, enough to justify having one, but not often enough to be upset about flipping it over once in awhile to put it in. Also, one of the first concerns would be the disk door opening while the computer is in my lap. Apple seems to have this covered by putting in an motion sensor that won't allow the drive door to open unless the laptop is turned over.

If flipping over my Mac to put in a CD once in awhile will get me a thinner, lighter laptop, then you can sign me up for one.